French Bulldogs have captured the hearts of American households for over a century, becoming a beloved dog breed. To ensure their well-being and happiness, it is important for French Bulldog owners to pay close attention to their nutrition and exercise. Like all dogs, French Bulldogs need a balanced diet of protein, fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. While dogs can eat and benefit from fruits and vegetables, the most important part of any dog’s diet is always going to be protein. Beyond their basic dietary needs, French Bulldogs may also have more specific dietary needs based on health and breed traits, such as joint health, allergy relief, and dental health.
One increasingly popular option is the raw diet. Feeding your French Bulldog a raw diet can be a great way to ensure their optimal health and wellbeing. This article provides a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing a raw diet for your French Bulldog, covering everything from the basics of raw feeding to practical tips for transitioning your dog and addressing potential concerns.
Understanding the B.A.R.F. Diet
B.A.R.F. is the acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (or Bones And Raw Food). Even if our Frenchie pups are lovely family members, their digestion system hasn’t changed much in the past 10,000 years and your cute baby is a wolf inside closer to their wild dog ancestors than you think. They are anatomically carnivores, so they are basically flesh-eaters with powerful digestive juices (which kill bacteria in raw food). B.A.R.F. is all about feeding your dog the way nature intended. From their short intestines to their teeth designed to rip and eat flesh, this is the best way to keep them healthy and well-fed.
Benefits of a Raw Diet for French Bulldogs
Switching your French Bulldog from processed food to a raw, biologically aligned diet is one of the most impactful health decisions you can make. A raw, species-appropriate diet, also referred to as BARF diet for dogs (biologically appropriate raw food diet), includes muscle meat, organ meat, bone, raw fats, and a small amount of vegetables or berries.
Proponents of raw diets claim that they can lead to various benefits, including:
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- Cleaner teeth and fresh breath
- Better weight control
- Improved digestion
- Shinier, healthier skin and coat
- Reduction of allergy symptoms
- Harder, smaller, less smelly stools
- Increased mobility in older animals
- More energy and stamina
- Strengthened immune system
- Improved liver, pancreatic, and bowel health
Components of a Balanced Raw Diet for French Bulldogs
A balanced raw diet for French Bulldogs should consist of more than just meat and bones. The daily B.A.R.F. diet for French Bulldogs includes:
- Raw meat (70%): Raw meat (with or without bones) should take up the major proportion of your pup’s diet. It can include a mixture of muscle meat, saturated fat, and muscular organs such as heart muscle meat. This provides them with the protein, energy, amino acids, and water-soluble vitamins they need.
- Raw edible bone (10%): Frenchies do need raw meaty bones. It’s crucial that these are raw, as cooking bones makes them brittle and therefore, more likely to splinter and this is why you should avoid feeding them cooked bones.
- Inner organs (10%): Liver is essential to provide fat-soluble vitamins, the recommended ratio starts at 5%. Other organs, like kidney, give your puppy the essential water-soluble vitamins.
- Vegetables and fruits (8%): While vegetables are not essential in a French Bulldog’s diet, it provides them with the fibres they need to keep their digestive system clean and antioxidants to keep them healthy.
- Seeds and nuts (1%): Raw seeds and nuts provide essential vitamins, fatty acids, and fat-soluble vitamins.
It can’t be highlighted enough that your puppy’s diet should include no chocolate, cookies, sweets, cakes. These are not only unhealthy but can be toxic as in Oscar’s case.
Transitioning to a Raw Diet
The major concern about the B.A.R.F. diet is that raw meat contains bacteria. If you store it properly, however, you’ll see no problem. Regarding the transition from cooked food to a raw diet, follow the tips we shared above. Change one meal at a time and step by step you can switch it completely in a week.
To ensure a smooth transition when you change their diets, a slow introduction of the new food, mixing 25% of the new food with 75% of the old food, increasing the ratio of the new food in a week to 100% if your baby is happy. The same applies to adding fresh food into their diets: change one meal first, and see how they react, and then slowly change the rest of the meals.
During the transition, keep an eye on your dog’s poo (yes, really), energy levels, and appetite. Digest, our dog gut health supplement, can help soothe the gut, reduce gas, and ease the shift to fresh food.
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Raw Feeding for French Bulldog Puppies
Yes, puppies have specific dietary requirements for proper growth and development. Feeding a raw diet to French Bulldog puppies requires extra attention to ensure they receive the right balance of nutrients. For safe growth, it’s important to feed a raw puppy-specific formula. ProDog’s raw puppy food meals are formulated to FEDIAF nutritional standards and expertly portioned for convenience. Puppy feeding guidelines are different from adult dogs and change as your young dog grows.
We feed the puppies 3 times a day at 8 weeks old, and usually the times are 6am, noon, and 5/6pm in the Summer months (puppies wake up with the sun), and just one hour later in the day for each feeding in the Winter time to adjust for their normal wake/sleep schedules. Making food available during specific intervals during the day will make bowel movements more predictable, because they typically poop within 20 minutes after eating. You can start to take away food earlier each evening to have less bowel movements over night. One 5lb puppy will eat approximately one handful of a balanced and complete raw diet (4-5 ounce) at each feeding, OR 1/2-3/4 cups of freeze dried raw per feeding. If feeding freeze dried raw (or kibble), I highly recommend taking a moment to boil and mash some carrots. One-two tablespoons of boiled and mashed carrots can be added to the puppy’s food at each feeding. This will help to keep their digestive system settled during the stressful transition between homes. If you choose to add any additional supplements, just follow the packaging instructions. If your puppy doesn’t finish this portion right away, you can place it in the fridge and offer again later. Don’t leave raw meat sitting out for more than 10 minutes at room temperature. Use common sense and treat it the same way you would treat food that you are cooking for your family. Only defrost a max of three days worth of raw food portions at a time so that the raw meat that you are feeding is fresh. If your puppy eats all of it and seems to still be hungry, defrost another portion. There is no need to measure or count calories at this point. Growing puppies need a lot of energy, just like growing children.
Addressing Potential Concerns
- Bacterial contamination: The major concern about the B.A.R.F. diet is that raw meat contains bacteria. If you store it properly, however, you’ll see no problem. Follow safe food handling practices, such as proper storage and hygiene, to minimize the risk.
- Nutritional imbalances: To be a 'complete' dog food you have to meet AAFCOS minimum requirements on macro and micronutrients. Thats why some formulars contain additional minerals. Customers are super scared of the word 'incomplete' so they would have much less customers if it was all considered 'incomplete'.
- Choking hazards: Ensure that bones are raw and of an appropriate size to prevent choking.
Practical Tips for Raw Feeding
- Sourcing ingredients: If you are in a pinch and cannot wait for your deer to ship, Some pre-made ready to eat foods that are fairly easily accessible are Northwest Naturals, Stella and Chewy’s, and Wild Coast Raw. You fill find these in the freezer sections of boutique pet stores. You are welcome to supplement with freeze dried raw for those times when the food is not defrosted in time, for travel, and other unforeseeable circumstances.
- Homemade vs. pre-made: Yes! It is possible to prepare a raw diet at home for your French Bulldog. However, it’s crucial to ensure that the diet is balanced and provides all the necessary nutrients.
- Supplements: Supplements: NuVet is an FDA registered laboratory that uses human grade ingredients and sources 100% of its ingredients from the USA. They make both a vitamin-mineral wafer as well as a joint support wafer. I recommend both.
- Variety: With ProDog, you have options when it comes to what to feed your French Bulldog. All our meals are expertly formulated to support your dog’s nutritional needs. Choose from our Complete Puppy and Smart Chub ranges for complete, balanced, ready-to-serve meals.
The Importance of Fresh, Natural Feeding
Raw dog food is whole food served in their most natural state with no heat processing. It’s the most biologically aligned option for dogs. It delivers nutrients in their most digestible and usable forms, with no need for synthetic additives, preservatives or mystery fillers. Let’s be honest: you don’t see wolves in the wild rummaging in wheat fields or sniffing out dried biscuits.
Modern dogs may appear different from their wild ancestors, but biologically, they remain remarkably close to wolves. That’s not a criticism; most dog owners simply want to do their best. Dogs have little requirement for carbohydrates, especially refined ones. However, most commercial dry dog foods are loaded with them, often making up more than 50% of the recipe. Why? Because carbs like grains, legumes and starchy fillers are cheap to bulk out food, not because they benefit your dog. That’s why more and more dog owners are turning to grain-free dog food or making the transition to feeding their dogs a fresh diet. Better digestion. More vitality. Shinier coats. Healthier teeth. Because when your dog eats better, they live better.
Addressing Specific French Bulldog Health Concerns with Raw Diet
French Bulldogs’ short noses, narrow nostrils, elongated soft palates, and compressed throat structures limit airflow. This not only affects digestion but also makes them sensitive to heat. Choose moisture-rich, minimally processed foods like raw to ease digestion and reduce excess heat. The harder the body works to break food down, the more heat it generates.
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Skin fold dermatitis, food intolerances, and seasonal allergies are all common in Frenchies. Gut health plays a central role in modulating immune response, which directly influences allergy-type symptoms such as itching, inflammation, and digestive upset.
From flatulence and acid reflux to loose stools and food sensitivities, French Bulldogs are known for their sensitive tummies.
Additional Considerations
- Consult with a veterinarian or canine nutritionist: Before making significant changes to your French Bulldog's diet, it's always best to consult with a qualified professional.
- Monitor your dog's health: Pay close attention to your dog's weight, energy levels, and stool quality to ensure the diet is working well.
- Food and water bowls: Regular bowls work fine but if you would like to go the extra mile there are special bowls designed specifically for brachycephalic breeds which helps slow down eating and therefore swallowing less gas (and creating less gas and less chances for over eating and then throwing up) those can be purchased online. Raised bowls are an extra plus! Spending all that time bent over a bowl can be painful on the joints. A raised bowl will keep proper body conformation and promote correct position of joints. So the best bowl will be 1) elevated 2) tilted 3) heavy 4) made from a material easy to clean and antibacterial
- Treats: In general stay away from grain based treats as well as dental chews that look like a powder/paste that was formed into a bone shape- these can cause severe stomach upset. Instead choose freeze dried raw meat treats. Vital Essentials is a wonderful brand that makes raw freeze dried minnows (tiny fish) that are full of healthy omega 3’s. These can be ordered online through chewy.com boutique pet stores and MudBay carry this as well